Time is Precious

In Good Times AND Bad

Loose particles of dirt dropped onto my scalp and into my hair as I continued to shake, just like the angry ground surrounding us.

I did my best to get it out, but it itched like a motherfucker.

The foul stench of feces and ammonia made me want to gag.

There was no going to the surface, not even for bathroom breaks.

I covered my mouth and nose with a dirty, stained piece of cotton from the bottom of my worn t-shirt and tried not to choke.

Adding the stench of vomit to the atmosphere would only make it that much more unbearable.

Bits of miniscule roots fell down with the dirt and I was grateful no snakes or rodents had come in with us yet.

It wouldn't be long.

The bugs had already arrived. They made me twitch in my sleep, when I was able to drift off, that is.

My husband Jory's cold hands had turned dank and moist, relaying his internal nervousness. I knew he shared my fears.

If he could have cried, he probably would have, though neither of us had that luxury anymore.

We scooted cautiously along the narrow passageway of our fall-out shelter towards the back to huddle and hide. I desperately wished the ground beneath our feet would stay still.

Just for a little while at least.

Please.

Mother Nature was furious, though, and my silent pleas held no weigh against shifting clay, sand, sediment and shale. I prayed for salvation as more grit rained down upon our shoulders from the splinter cracks in the ceiling.

I ground my teeth.

How much longer would our underground tin can hold out? With the fissures in the steel already visible, we knew we were being exposed to radiation.

There was nothing we could do about it, dammit!

Another nearby explosion shook the make-shift walls around us and we whimpered.

Jory and I fell forward in the after-shocks, hitting cool metal and fallen debris. I felt tears form in the skin of my kneecaps as blood soiled my filthy, denim pants.

Still, I ignored the pain.

Jory and I held onto each other tightly, never letting go.

Something that smelled like mold drifted in the air and I coughed through the haze.

Six months prior, when the cascade of earthquakes burst free from deep inside our planet, they began setting off nuclear power plants in their wake. The entire Earth had been exploding in one form or another ever since.

We had no idea when it would end.

But we had each other.

Thank God.

I dropped a hand and felt Jory's heart pound beneath my trembling fingers.